Trophy
Sticks, custom design, clever hydrodynamics, and a little art all rolled in one

Date:

10/08/07

Tackle type:

Lures

Manufacturer:

Trophy Sticks

Reviewer:

Zander

Total Score: 8.66

Introduction:
Trophy Sticks are a new custom made bait designed for West Coast trophy hunters
pursuing a wide range of species from Salmon to Striped Bass. These lures
exhibit handmade craftsmanship of days gone by coupled with a deceivingly subtle action.

Trophy Sticks
Specifications

Type

Minnow stick bait, trolling, ripbait

Size

3
available 4.5", 5.5", 6.5"

Colors/Patterns

3+
available

Material

Balsa wood

MSRP

$15.99-$16.99

Impressions: These days when you think ripbait a
number of manufacturers come to mind, namely Rapala, Lucky Craft, Yozuri, and
Megabass for JDM junkies like our own Enthusiast Editor Cal. We often forget
that there are other options, other solutions out there that not only can catch
fish, but are less likely to be seen by fish on high pressured water.

The Trophy Sticks, a new stickbait
you probably haven't heard of....yet

Trophy Sticks are one such
lure, and were introduced to anglers by Jake Bunio a trophy
hunter who was not satisfied with other mass produced solutions. He explained the team at Trophy Sticks spent a
lot of time modifying lures from the very brands we mentioned earlier and
started by upgrading the hooks and repainting the bodies. Though the lures
worked they never could get the lures to look as realistic as they
desired. The result was the birth of the Trophy Stick, still regarded by many as
a secret out in the West Coast though it has now been featured in a number of
publications including the Fish Sniffer.

The Trophy Sticks feature a 3D
design that actually features flared gills

Well the word is officially
out. Trophy Sticks remind us of handcrafted balsa wood lures of the past, with
some artistic creativity added in, and some intelligent hydrodynamic design all
wrapped into one lure. Jacob went on to explain that the lures themselves took over a year to create, and
countless hours of testing went into getting the design and action just right.

Look closely and you can see a
realistic lure pattern, fins, and gill plate

Jake decided to start the company with 3 different
patterns, which are the food for all big fish in rivers, lakes and the delta
systems. These include the “Tasty Tui” which is a Tui-Chub imitation or also
known as a “hitch” and is designed to target Largemouth and Stripers on lakes
like Clear Lake, The California Delta, Lake Folsom.

The Trophy Sticks have a subtle
action and is best retrieved at a medium pace or trolled

The next pattern is the “Baby Bow”, which is the
same paint scheme he originally used on the Rapalas he modified. This
lure is designed for any fish that preys on rainbows, including bass and
stripers. Jacob explained that the little rainbow trout is a great meal for all
Bass in the Delta and went on to say that the rainbow/steelhead runs back and
forth through the CA Delta system further make this a good choice for all types
of bass because they love to eat little rainbow trout including big, big
Striper.

The "Baby Bow" pattern is the same
paint scheme that was originally created to soup up the Rapalas

The third pattern is called the “Silver
Platter which is a small Salmon imitation which mimics a young salmon and a
favorite food for giant predatory fish like Brown Trout, Giant Mackinaw and
Trophy Rainbow Trout, but can also be used to target bass and stripers as well. When
Jake contacted us to introduce these baits to us, well... we were skeptical,
after all does the world need another stick bait? We have tested so many jerk/ripbaits
over the years we have joked that we need a new section of the site simply
dedicated to these elongated lures. It was time to see if the Trophy Sticks are
worthy of the very name they are bestowed with.

Underneath you can see the
protruding gills

Real World Tests: To put the Trophy Sticks
to the performance tests we head to the very water that Jacob explained the
lures would perform well on... our backyard, the California Delta. While we did
fish for largemouth bass our main goal was to hook into some double digit early
Fall run stripers. We fished the lure both as a standard stickbait, a ripbait,
and trolling....and here's what we found...